Returning Home
by HungryLucy
Summary: Spike and Dawn return to the others after five years of demon fighting around the globe. They're now a happy couple soon to be married. Until everything goes wrong. Chapter 10 posted!
1. Welcome to our new life

Returning Home  
  
Prologue: It's been five years since the big 'earthquake' in Sunnydale (Spike somehow survived) and Dawn and Spike left the US a couple of months after it. They've been around the world a lot and they've changed. Now they're coming back to L.A. How will the others take it?  
  
Chapter 1  
  
It was a dark winter night in Helsinki, the town that had recently gotten acquaintanced to an unusual pair; a master vampire, William the Bloody, had teamed up with the little sister of a Slayer.  
  
After Sunnydale was destroyed, Dawn had decided she needed some time away from the others, she wanted to travel around a bit, see some new places.  
  
The little trip had streched out, a lot. It was now five years since she'd last seen her sister and her friends.  
  
Sure, she'd called them a few times, but it was expensive, and since the pair got all their money from taking small jobs from people involved in the demon world, they didn't have a lot of money. The last time she spoke to her sister on the phone was two years ago.  
  
Spike had decided to go with her, partly because he wanted to go back to Europe and partly because Dawn wasn't old enough to travel on her own.  
  
The trip slowly evolved into demon searching and fighting for both of them.  
  
Five years was a long time. They'd been to England, where they stayed for two whole years before they got bored. Then there'd been France, which neither of them had liked very much, China, where Dawn had learned Kung Fu from a master, Russia, which was just cold and now finally Finland, which was almost as cold.  
  
They were situated behind a few dumpsters in a dark, windy and freezing alley.  
  
"Do you think the tip was fake?" The tall, dark-haired woman whispered to her companion.  
  
"Would appear so." The once bleached vampire who now had jet black hair took one last look down the alley before sighing loudly and leaning against the wall behind him. "So, what're we gonna do now? That was the one and only tip we've gotten on them and it turns out it's phoney. And we've been in this godforsaken town for three weeks!" Spike banged his head against the wall, growling in frustration.  
  
Dawn could do nothing but agree with him. They'd been chasing some kind of dwarf-like demons here for a while, and they weren't getting anywhere at all. Besides that, the silence and the absence of action was becoming unbearable. Dawn guessed it was like drugs. You get addicted to violence like that.  
  
Maybe they should just give up and leave this horrible, cold-as-hell place and go somewhere warmer. The Canary Islands seemed like a very good option at this point.  
  
Dawn envied Spike, who didn't feel the cold in the same way as her, his body temperature just sank. So he wasn't any good at warming her up. Truth be told, Dawn just wanted to get the hell out of here.  
  
They'd found a couple frozen bodies in allies, just dead. Killed by this city's cruelness.  
  
Here, if you fell asleep outdoors, or even stood still for too long, you would probably freeze to death.  
  
They stood up, Dawn jumping around to warm herself up, Spike just standing there, feeling guilty of not being able to warm her up.  
  
That's when they heard the panic-stricken screams.  
  
"MITÄ VITTUA SÄ TEET?! LOPETA! APUA!"  
  
It was a woman's voice. Though three weeks wasn't enough to learn Finnish, they could hear the panic in her voice.  
  
They ran towards the screams that seemed to get louder.  
  
There was a woman in her twenties, dressed in a way too short skirt, squirming in the arms of the vampire biting her.  
  
Spike quickly tackled the vampire, Dawn dusting him before he hit the ground.  
  
The woman was half-lying on the street, trying to brace herself up with her arms. She was weak; the vampire had been a fast blood-sucker.  
  
"Mitä- toi tyyppi—se- se puri mua. Minne se katos..?  
  
Spike just smiled and helped the woman stand up. He had no idea of what she'd just said, but he guessed she was confused.  
  
"Listen, do you speak English?"  
  
The woman nodded.  
  
"Well, you were being robbed, we saw what was going on and came to help, scaring him away. Okay?"  
  
"Okay, but—never mind. Thank you." Then a confused expression washed over her face as she looked at a spot behind Spike.  
  
"Well, well. Finally we meet. I did expect it to be more honorable, though, not just accidentally bumping into each other like this."  
  
Spike had turned around and was looking at- nothing.  
  
"Down 'ere, ya poof." Spike looked down, into a pair of angry red eyes.  
  
Spike almost laughed. Did this tiny guy really think he could beat him and Dawn all by himself?  
  
"Spike, look, there's more of them" Dawn was sounding excited, not even a little bit scared.  
  
That's my Nibblet. Spike silently thought.  
  
There were about twenty other small-sized demons.  
  
The leader stepped back, ordering his minions to attack.  
  
The fight had begun.  
  
Spike got three on himself instantly. He smiled, inwardly thinking that he'd not kill these instantly. He'd enjoy kicking their small asses first.  
  
I'm the trouble starter, punkin instigator  
  
I'm the fear-addicted, danger illustrated  
  
He ducked one dwarf's blows, shook his leg so that the one clinging to it flew straight into a wall. The third jumped at him but was met with a solid punch to the face. He fell down unconscious.  
  
Spike looked over at Dawn, seeing her flexible body bend, ducking all the minions' punches, kicking them elegantly, punching them away with ferocity.  
  
She was getting good. Really good. Spike had almost taught her all he knew about fighting, and now he wasn't so sure he'd win if they ever duelled.  
  
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
Dawn truly enjoyed herself. Fighting felt so good after the long break. All the kicks and punches seemed to come naturally now, leaving her to close her eyes and breathe in the power of violence.  
  
I'm the bitch you hated, filth infatuated  
  
I'm the pain you tasted, well intoxicated  
  
Spike was rummaging through them now, only dealing them a few kicks each before throwing them off to recover so they could attack again.  
  
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
Dawn too was holding back, not wanting this fight to be over just yet. "Ha! You worthless piece o' shit! Did you really think you'd beat us, wanker? Why don't you just go fuck your mother cause that's probably all you're good for! On second thoughts, don't. your mother'd have to pay for therapy for the rest of her life! But then again she probably already has to, having a kid like you!" Dawn's venomous laughter echoed through the alley.  
  
I'm the one infected, twisted animator  
  
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
That woman's got such a bad mouth! I wonder where that came from Spike thought.  
  
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter  
  
When they both got fed up with holding back their powers, the fight was over in minutes, a layer of dead dwarf's lying on the street. The woman was long gone.  
  
They walked home feeling truly happy and relaxed, big smiles on their faces. Dawn wasn't even cold anymore, since she'd almost worked up a sweat in the fight.  
  
"Well, you're becoming quite the fighter if I might say so." Spike broke the cold midnight silence.  
  
"Yeah. It just feels like it's my thing now you know. At first, when you began giving me the lessons, it seemed like I was never gonna get the hang of it. But now.." She looked up at the clear sky.  
  
Spike remembered when Dawn had first come to him, asking him to teach her how to fight. They ended up seeing each other almost every night, often training but sometimes just hanging out, watching TV. That was when he'd began to like Dawn as a woman.  
  
"Let's get outta here for good tomorrow, ok?" Dawn asked him, slipping her hand into his.  
  
"First flight, luv." He smiled at her before capturing her lips in a soft kiss.  
  
The next day they had checked out of the hotel and were waiting for the taxi that would take them to the airport. They didn't have any idea where they were going to fly this time, though. They had been traveling around the planet for five years now, and Dawn had grown up to be a confident beautiful young woman, she'd cut her hair somewhere along their journey, and it was now shoulder-length, but still as shiny as it was before. She had developed more curves, making her very beautiful. Her style had also changed a lot; she'd ditched the childish teenager clothes a long time ago, and her look was now not long from a certain dark-haired slayers'.  
  
Spike hadn't changed much, aside from his now jet black hair (it still was gelled back like before). He certainly hadn't aged. Physically, anyway. The truth was that he felt younger here with Dawn than ever before in Sunnydale.  
  
The couple fitted very well together. Since they were a couple now, a real couple with all the included kissing and lovemaking. They'd even gotten engaged four months ago and they were planning to get married soon. Spike had gotten fake papers from an old friend in London.  
  
Buffy and the others had no idea about them being a couple and they'd realized that they'd have to tell her, at least before they got married.  
  
"So, where to now, my lady?"  
  
"Well, I've been thinking about that. Spike, I think it's time to return to L.A." She watched him carefully, wanting to see his reaction.  
  
But he didn't look all that surprised at all.  
  
"I've been waiting for you to say that. Knowing we'd have to go back someday. And honestly, I have to say that this is a pretty good time." He smiled genuinely at his lover.  
  
"Oh. Well that's a relief. You know I'm really missing Buffy and the others. Do you know that we haven't actually spoken to them in over two years?"  
  
"Yeah. I know." Spike would hate to admit it, but he also missed every single one of the former Scoobies, even the Whelp.  
  
"So it's two tickets to Los Angeles then?" Dawn was smiling with her whole presence.  
  
"Looks like it, Nibblet." Though Dawn was as excited as a schoolgirl about this, Spike didn't know what he felt.  
  
At least he hoped that Buffy didn't stake him after finding out about her little sister and him.  
  
When they'd last spoken to each other, Buffy had still been fighting and researching demons with her little 'gang', including the Wicca, the Whelp, Anya (who now owned a little jewellery shop of her own) and Giles, who'd moved to the States for now.  
  
They'd also been co-operating with Angels team (Angel, by the way, didn't own Wolfram and Hart anymore).  
  
More than that didn't Spike know, and that information was several years old, so much could've changed since that. He thought that they still lived in L.A. though, cause they had been planning to set up some kind of 'Investigation/Demon-fighting place'. Spike wondered how that had turned out.

AN: I've already got more chapters written down but I wont post them unless you want me to so if you review, I'll post the next chapter here as fast as I can (two days at the absolute most, probably a few hours.

So review, all you mighty readers out there, you'll make my day happy!


	2. Hey, we've got new lives too

Chapter 2: Hey, we've got lives too!  
  
"Welcome back to Los Angeles, pet. It's really late here, though, what d'you say we just stay at a hotel this night and find the gang tomorrow?"  
  
"I've been living in the same rhythm as you for a pretty long time now so I'm not that tired, but I guess that our little pals are asleep. But could we pleeease go patrolling? I feel like killing something."  
  
Spike chuckled.  
  
"That's my girl. Addicted to violence. Mwahhahhaa."  
  
Dawn laughed, but couldn't help but wonder how much truth there really was in that statement.  
  
They quickly checked in at some trashy motel before getting out to patrol.  
  
Patrolling was much easier than usual. Maybe the creatures of the night were slipping a bit. They were attacked by at least a dozen vampires at the same time as five big, scaly-type demons, which they easily defeated before killing one extra slimy demon. Unfortunately, they got covered in slime from head to toe, Dawn complaining about how much it would ruin her perfectly shiny and styled hair and Spike whining on about his duster (that still hadn't gotten ruined after almost forty years of demon fighting).  
  
They decided to get back to the motel, shower and then get a good-morning sleep.  
  
They stumbled laughing past a surprised-looking man by the counter. He certainly didn't have guests covered in green slime everyday.  
  
"Last one to the shower is an old, stinking pile of dust!" Dawn giggled and began undressing quickly.  
  
"Should I take that as a threat, 'bit?" Spike began jumping out of his clothes too, but Dawn had gained just the advantage she needed and made it first into the dirty shower that had a once-white now light brown curtain.  
  
"Bugger. In some things vampire speed is just not good enough." The truth was that he'd actually not even tried to beat Dawn, cause she was much more upset by the slime than he was, and it would just be poofy to and un-gentlemanny to get the first turn.  
  
But after a while of waiting for Dawn to step out, he discovered that the slime was drying and sneaked into the shower.  
  
"Spike! Are you out there?" Dawn hopefully asked.  
  
"I'm right in here pet." As Dawn jumped, shrieked and slapped his arm, Spike's grin only got wider.  
  
"Oh, little demon-fighting Dawn's not so tough."  
  
"Well, I think I had the right to at least jump! Haven't you seen Psycho? And besides, it always happens in the shower!"  
  
"What exactly always happens in the shower, luv?" Spike's voice was nothing but a low growl in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.  
  
He was standing behind her, strong arms encircling her slim waist, his teeth gently nibbling her ear. She could feel something hard pressing up against the base of her spine and it wasn't difficult to figure out what that was.  
  
"You have no idea what it does to me, being here with you in this shower, all naked and wet..."  
  
Dawn smiled and turned around to kiss him.

Afterwards they fell into the bath tub, Dawn catching her breath. (Since Spike didn't have one.)As the sun rised above the city of L.A., a young woman was making her way across an abandoned street, down dirty stairs, unlocking an old steel door and stepping in to complete darkness.  
  
Willow found the switch and turned on the lights. She looked around the cellar with the low ceiling, making sure everything looked normal after the weekend. The counter where they took assignments from customers was made of dark mahogany and polished to perfection by Wesley. Willow smiled as she thought of her boyfriend and his need for everything to be clean.  
  
The old comfy sofas that were set in one of the corners around a small coffee table were dark brown and had been lightened slightly by red pillows. The research table in the middle of the room was strangely not covered with books. The bookshelf, on the other hand was stuffed with old- looking books from the floor to the ceiling. As Willow was turning on the coffee machine she heard a loud grunt.  
  
She smiled to herself as she made her way to a door that was so well hidden that if you didn't know it was there you probably wouldn't notice it. She carefully turned the handle and opened the door just enough to peek in.  
  
There lay Angel in his bed, tossing and turning in his sleep.  
  
Willow noticed that his pillow had fallen to the floor. She silently made her way into his room, lifting the pillow and stuffing it beside the sleeping figure. Angel noticed and pulled it under his head, making a smacking noise and saying something in his sleep before falling into an undisturbed sleep.  
  
Oh how cute, the little vamp was missing his pillow and couldn't sleep. Walking into the 'office' again, she took out a cup and poured herself some coffee. She glanced at the clock: 8 am. She sat down behind the counter, magazine in one hand, coffee in the other, enjoying her silent moment of the day.  
  
Wesley was due to arrive at about 8.30, Giles normally got there by the same time. Then Fred and Gunn (now a happy married couple) came together at about nine thirty. Cordelia showed up at ten, not being a morning person. Buffy, Faith and Robin turned up when they wanted, cause they were often out late patrolling.  
  
Angel didn't get up until five or six pm, when the sun set, and everyone was careful not to wake the sleeping vampire.  
  
Willow thought sadly of her old friend, Xander, who had so much going on with his own construction firm and Anya being seven moths pregnant, that he almost never had time to come by.  
  
Thinking about friends, Willow remembered Dawn, who had left with Spike so long ago. She wondered if they'd even been planning to ever return again. Willow guessed that Dawn had grown up a lot, but she still couldn't think of her as anyone else but the insecure school girl who was uncomfortable with her height.  
  
Willow smiled thinking of her old friend, wondering where they had been all the time. Had they settled down somewhere in Asia or Europe? That was highly unlikely, at least for Spike. But, hadn't he always been full of surprises? Maybe Dawn and him had gotten separated on the way, Dawn finding someone special. Willow liked the sound of that option, but she still thought that it was way too early for Dawn to settle down, she had her whole life in front of her.  
  
Then an option that almost made Willow throw up entered her mind. What if she hadn't survived? What if they were both dead? Willow couldn't bare the thought. They had been searching for them, but if was hard to find any clues at all, and there was always some big bad in LA that needed to be researched fast to kill...  
  
She made a mental note to bring that up on the staff meeting that was due today at 3 o'clock. (Angel would just have to deal with that.)

AN: So, the second chapter's up, and the third's already written down, just review or e-mail and i'll post it!

I'm open for all idea's so if you've got one send it to me and I'll see what I can do!

Finally, please review it's not hard: just press 'submit review'!


	3. See?

Chapter 3  
  
At 3.00pm Willow, Giles, Wesley, Cordy, Fred, Gunn, Buffy, Faith and Robin were all seated at the research table.  
  
"Okay, does anyone have anything they want to tell us before I start the meeting?" Willow asked.  
  
Faith spoke up. "Well, yesterday Robin and I met up with the Defgog's that were supposed to give us the information of Gareth, right?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot. How did that go?"  
  
"Well, fine, until it turned out that we weren't talking about the same Gareth at all. They'd figured we meant this butt-ugly demon who lived in the 16th century. Or so they said and then they excused themselves and practically ran off." Faith finished.  
  
"Right." Robin continued. "And we thought there was something a bit suspicious about that so we followed them."  
  
"And?" Suddenly Willow had forgotten all about Dawn.  
  
"Well, we found them fighting at least a dozen, maybe fifteen vamps."  
  
"That's strange. Buffy, didn't you say that there'd hardly been any vampire activity lately?"  
  
"Well, I've only dusted a couple vamps a night."  
  
"Right, so that's already weird, but wait- there's more to it." Robin continued. "These vamps were like really good fighters. And I mean really really good. The Defgogs, who are prettytalented too, were all beaten in like five seconds. And there were five of them." He paused to let his words sink in.  
  
"Right, we were like what is that? But that wasn't even all. The vamps began fighting themselves, and after two minutes, I tell you two minutes at the most, almost all of them were dust. A couple managed to escape."  
  
"That's truly weird. "Buffy looked thoughtful. "I mean, it's not weird for vamps to kill themselves, but it seems like they first worked together like a group to kill the Def- whatevers and then all of a sudden they go all dusty with each other? Now that's weird even for vamps."  
  
Everyone seemed to agree. Giles cleared his throat.  
  
"There must have been a reason for them to just turn against each other so suddenly. Do you have any idea what could have caused that? Faith?"  
  
"Well, no. But it seemed like two of them were doing most of the killing. Even killed the Defgogs. Maybe they were like, different gangs or something."  
  
"I think it's worth looking into." Giles stated. " Willow, Wesley and myself will be researching tonight. I suggest that the rest of you go out patrolling right after sunset to try and find this group of trained vampires or their nest, if there are any of them left."  
  
"I'm right there with you Giles. It's just that I had a date tonight, and it's my first date in ages! And I really like this guy!" Buffy pleaded.  
  
Giles sighed, but he was happy that Buffy finally had started dating again.  
  
"Fine. It's okay you can go." Buffy jumped up and hugged Giles.  
  
"Thanks. I mean really. Yay!" She jumped up and down, excited.  
  
Giles couldn't help but think how much happier Buffy had been lately. It really pleased him to see her that way.  
  
"So, anything else?" Willow looked around. Nobody interrupted. "Good. I was thinking the other day. Um, it was today actually. And I thought about Dawn. And Spike too, I guess. And I think we should put a little more effort in trying to find them."  
  
Everyone seemed to agree. At least no one objected.  
  
"So, I guess whoever's research turn it is, should look into it. Today it means me, Wesley and Giles."  
  
Buffy thought of her little sister, she really missed her. She sometimes wondered if they'd ever meet again. She wondered if Dawn was even alive. She wondered about Spike too.  
  
"I think that's a good idea." Buffy spoke up.  
  
"Good. It's settled then."  
  
The group parted going back to whatever they'd been doing.  
  
"Morning, luv. Or should I say afternoon." Spike watched Dawn, who was lying in his arms. She stirred and slowly opened her eyes.  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Four o'clock, mylady."  
  
"Oh. Must be jet lag."  
  
"Me neither. But the sun's not down yet, and I can think of a thing that'll keep us busy..." His voice was low and brisky.  
  
"Sorry, Spike. I'm hungry. And well, I've got to go to the butcher's for some blood. For you that is. "Dawn stepped out of bed, strolling around their small hotel room completely naked. Spike's hungry eyes followed her form.  
  
She looked inside her bag and sighed. Traveling all the time and sleeping the whole day wasn't exactly a good combination when it came to dry- cleaning. And she had very few outfits to change into, since they were traveling so much, and didn't want to carry around a ton of clothes all the time.  
  
"What's it love?" Dawn liked it when he called her 'love' or 'pet' instead of 'Nibblet' or ''bit'.  
  
"I don't have any clean clothes!"  
  
"There's a dry cleaner's a block away."  
  
"I know, but I can't run a block naked can I?"  
  
"Well no! Everyone would get to see that gorgeus body of yours! that belongs to me and me only!" Though it was meant to be a joke Dawn knew that it wasn't. He'd even claimed her. So she should put a tattoo on her butt saying 'Property of William the Bloody: No Tresspassing!'  
  
"So what should I do?"  
  
"Just borrow some of mine, okay?" He got up, naked too, digging in his bag. He pulled out a pair of black jeans and a deep red shirt. "Here."  
  
"Um, thanks." She got into his jeans, which were really tight around her hips. She knew that Spike had narrow hips, but he'd lost a bit of weight lately too.  
  
She watched his naked body as he comfortably moved around. His muscles had become more well-defined and his body was more angular in a way that she couldn't explain. She guessed that his body had lost all it's fat from training and fighting so much. She quickly put his t-shirt on.  
  
"Um, Spike? Could I borrow your duster too? It's pretty could outside and I'd love to wash my jacket."  
  
He seemed a little reluctant to let her wear his beloved duster but agreed.  
  
"As long as unharmed when I get it back. And here, take some of my clothes to the dry cleaner's too."  
  
"Yeah yeah, okay. Now, what was it? Dry cleaners', grocery store, butcher...I could ask around for where Buffy or someone else of the gang is living too."  
  
"Yeah, pet. We'll go see them tonight if you find out." He walked up to her, pressed his naked body against hers and gave her a long, passionate kiss, not wanting to let her go.  
  
"Umm..Spike? Need to breathe?"  
  
"Right. Well, bye then. See you in a couple hours?"  
  
"Yeah. Bye." She smiled when he managed to steal one last kiss before she was gone.  
  
She really loved everything about her fiancée. The way he moved, so graciously, like a cat. A very wild cat that is.  
  
She absentmindedly fingered the silver ring on her hand. It was beautiful, there was a small blue stone in the middle, surrounded by silver figures that looked antique.  
  
She had a big smile on her face when she stepped out in the sunlight.  
  
"Okay, so we'll go as pairs." Faith was the leader as usual. "I'll go with Robin and I guess Fred and Gunn wanna go as a pair so that means that it's Cordy and Angel."  
  
"Sounds good to me." Said Gunn and smiled at his wife.  
  
"Good. Does every pair have at least one cell phone?" At the various nods and 'yes's Faith received "Ok, we'll split up then. Angel and Cordy go that way, me an' Rob take this way so Fred and Gunn: that way." She pointed.  
  
The pairs split up and started patrolling.  
  
Faith and Robin walked, discussing.  
  
"Um, Robin?" Faith sounded serious, which was very unusual.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"There's something I need to tell you." She looked up at him.  
  
"Is it good or bad?"  
  
"Definetly good, I think."  
  
"So, what is it?"  
  
"Well, um, I'm pregnant." There was a slight silence.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I took the test and and then I went to the doctor to make sure."  
  
Robin's face lit up and he hugged her.  
  
"That's great! I mean, truly great! We've been trying for almost a year now!"  
  
"I know, I still can't believe it!"  
  
"Faith, I love you."  
  
"Me too. I mean I love you, not me, of course." She giggled.  
  
Robin thought about how much Faith had changed since Sunnydale. She'd become much happier and she wasn't as silent about her real feelings as before.  
  
"What the...? Look!" Robin turned around to face where Faith was looking.  
  
"Is that...Dawn?"

AN: Haha, a little cliffhanger there.. but luckily you can already read the next chapter!

Thanks for the reviews, I didn't get many though, and I want more! So please review, and I'd really like it if you told me specifically what you like and what you don't like.


	4. Nice to see you again!

Chapter 4  
  
Dawn was walking along a busy street, thinking about what she had left to do. She had dropped their clothes off at the dry cleaner's. She had the groceries bag in one of her hands, as the butcher's blood was in the other. She hadn't found any information about the Scoobies, though, and she'd decided that stopping random people in the street to ask wasn't a very good idea.  
  
So, heading home to Spike now.  
  
The sun was just going down so she figured he would get worried if she didn't get home soon.  
  
She walked along the street, suddenly stopping when she thought she'd seen someone familiar stand in the alley she just passed. She turned back.  
  
It was Faith and principal Wood. Hugging and laughing. That's when Faith saw Dawn standing there.  
  
"Dawn? Is that you?" Faith let go of Robin and sprinted towards Dawn.  
  
"Faith! Hi!" Dawn was a little surprised when Faith ran up to hug her.  
  
"Dawn! I can't believe you're here! You've changed so much! Your hair!Your..clothes!" Faith began tousling Dawn's hair and Wood walked up to them.  
  
"Hi Dawn." He hugged her awkwardly. "You've grown up!"  
  
"Well, yeah. So, are you still into the whole slaying business?"  
  
"Yep. But now we've got this whole big organisation. It's the former Sunnydale Slaying Team and Angel Investigations all in one. We've even got this thing ment to be an office nearby. Oh, you've got to come by!"  
  
"Well, I think I'd better go back to the hotel we're staying at now, but if you give me the address, I promise we'll be there later."  
  
"We? As in Spike's still around?" Faith wondered. "You've certainly gotten the same look as him these days."  
  
Dawn blushed a bit,being reminded of that.  
  
"Well, actually these are his clothes. Our clothes were all dirty and since he's kinda allergic to daylight.."  
  
"Oh, I see. Though those jeans seem to fit you. Can't imagine how Spike manages to get into them."  
  
"Well..they might be a bit tight..."  
  
"Dawn, you have to tell us all about where you've been and what you've been doing!"  
  
"I know. And I will. Tonight. Wouldn't want you to spoil the surprise for everyone else, now would ya?"  
  
"Oww but I soo wanna know! But okay, here's the address." Faith handed her a business card. "We won't tell anyone else you're around. Right, Robin?"  
  
"Right. It was really nice to see you Dawn."  
  
"You too Wood. And Faith. But we'll talk lots more tonight, I just have to get home. I promised Spike."  
  
"Ok, no problem. But we'll see you tonight!"  
  
"So you saw Slayer number two and her principal pet?" Spike was standing in the narrow hotel room, helping himself to a bag of blood.  
  
"Yeah. And we're gonna go to their little office tonight. To see all the others. Apparently the Scoobies have joined forces with Angel's team."  
  
"Can't say I'm not interested in what they've been up to." His fangs sank into the bag and he began sucking.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so." At the beginning, Dawn had thought that Spike sucking a blood bag was groce, but her opinion had changed a lot. Now she didn't think anything about it, she'd become so used to it.  
  
She even found it slightly arousing to see his cheekbones move as he drank the bag's contents.  
  
"While you were away I made some calls. I guessed you don't fancy living in this sodden hotel room all the time, especially as it looks like we might stay for a while. Not that we have any kind of shortage when it comes to money anymore." He grinned. "Anyway, there's this big cellar not far from here that we could rent for a small sum. It's really cosy." Again a grin.  
  
"Yeah, I bet there's lots of lovely rats and a nice, damp floor." She pretended to be refusing but both of them knew what she really thought. "Okay. So when can we move in?"  
  
"As soon as you please, mylady. Tonight if you want to. All our stuff's still packed inside the suitcases so we could leave right now."  
  
"Fine by me. I still have to wear your clothes though." She sighed.  
  
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my clothes!"  
  
"Whatever. Now lets go check our new cellar out!"  
  
Fifteen minutes later they were standing in their new 'home'. Dawn'd been right about the damp floor, but luckily she hadn't seen any rats yet. There was just one bed, and it looked as if it was falling apart. There were old pipes everywhere.  
  
"Gee, if I knew it would be this nice I would've put on something better." Dawn said sarcasticly.  
  
"It's great! And besides, you don't have anything nicer to put on."  
  
"But there's only one bed, and I don't have any problem sleeping in the same bed as you, but it could get a bit small."  
  
"We'll just have to deal with it. You could always sleep on me.."

AN: Yes, yes I know, short chapter. But i had to cut it in half or else it would get weird, you'll see.

Again, please review and tell me in detail what you liked and didn't like!


	5. What've you been up to?

Chapter 5  
  
"Shit, Spike! We're late!" Dawn quickly jumped out of the small bed. She began looking for scattered clothes on the damp floor.  
  
Spike protested the absence of her warm body with a growl, but didn't make any effort to get up.  
  
Dawn found a pair of Spike's black jeans and a black t-shirt that were almost dry, and decided they'd do. When she'd gotten into the jeans she saw that Spike still hadn't moved from the bed.  
  
"Get up!" She shouted, shaking him lightly.  
  
With a growl he opened his eyes and slowly got up of the bed.  
  
Five minutes later they were both ready and started off in the direction of the Scoobies new office.  
  
"Um, Spike? This is a dead end." Dawn complained. "You told me you knew this neighbourhood."  
  
"Well I _did_. A lot has changed, the alley's probably been closed off. We'll just have to go 'round." To Dawn's sigh Spike just smirked.  
  
Suddenly he stopped.  
  
"Wait." He seemed to be sniffing the air.  
  
They stood silent for a couple of minutes.  
  
"Look, Spike, we're already late, I'm sure it's nothing.." Dawn had barely finished the scentence when something large and quick launched at Spike.  
  
He swiftly recovered from the shock and landed a punch to it's midsection. The demon seemed to be startled but lauched at him again, trying to hit his head.  
  
Spike jumped to the side, but the creature's long claws still managed to scratch him in the arm.  
  
Dawn jumped at it from behind.  
  
"You bastard! Don't you dare hurt my fiancée!" She moved her slender but lethal fingers around it's neck, squeezing as hard as she could.  
  
Her nails sank into it's skin and it furiously tried to shake her off it's back. The demon succeeded and was just about to twist her neck when something slashed it's head clean off its body.  
  
"Dawn! Are you okay?" Spike kneeled beside her on the street where she was lying, caughing violently.  
  
"I think so. What about caugh you?"  
  
"I'll be okay, it's just a scratch."  
  
"Good thing you carry that caugh thing with you."  
  
"I would've taken it down easily without it too."  
  
Dawn smiled at him while he helped her up.  
  
"Faith's gonna be pissed off when we finally get there."

The clock was already 11pm and Faith wondered if they were ever going to show up. Luckily, they'd gotten a tip on Gareth, so the whole gang were there except Gunn and Fred, who'd decided to take the evening off, apparently they had something to discuss.  
  
Faith was trying to keep them all from leaving, coming up with different excuses to get them to stay. But it was already late and she was running out of excuses. If they weren't gonna show up soon she'd have to let them all go home or patrolling.  
  
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  
  
Faith inwardly did a small victory dance and quickly got up to open it. Willow was nearer the door, though, and she got to it first.  
  
"Willow!" Dawn threw her arms around Willow's neck. Willow froze at first but when she recognized who it was she hugged her back.  
  
"Dawn?" Buffy made her way up to her little sister, hugging her long and tight.  
  
Dawn was bombarded with questions and hugs from the others too.  
  
"We all missed you so much!"  
  
"Where've you been all this time?"  
  
"Oh my good you look so different!"  
  
Buffy noticed Spike at the door.  
  
"Spike! You aren't dust!" She awkwardly hugged him.  
  
"And I'm happy to see you too, Slayer." He smiled at the slayer and breathed in her unique scent.  
  
Willow also came up to him.  
  
"Spike! Hi! You've dyed you hair!"  
  
"Um, yeah." He self consciously brought his hand up to his black hair before recieving the witch's hug.  
  
A couple of minutes later they were all seated in the comfy brown sofas around the coffee table.  
  
They sat there until the early morning hours telling the others about where they'd been and what they'd been up to, leaving out everything about their relationship at Dawn's wish to tell them the big news later, privately.  
  
"I'm sorry guys, but it's nearly dawn. I think we have to go." Dawn excused them.  
  
"But where are you sleeping? A hotel will get pretty expensive if you're planning on staying. Why don't you come and live with me. There's plenty of space since..." Buffy left the scentence hanging in the air.  
  
"Since what?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Well, I was kinda going out with this guy, Jake, his father was really rich and he had a big apartment. Jake asked me to move in with him as a roommate, not as his girlfriend, but then things got out of hand when I didn't want to have a serious relationship with him and, well, he got pretty obsessive. Of course, I had to break up with him then. He didn't take it very well. One morning he was just gone. He'd taken all his stuff with him, only leaving a note that said he'd leave the apartment to me. I guess he still thinks that I'll come back to him."  
  
"Oh. Sorry about him, he must've been a real jerk to..." Dawn shut up at the various glances she got from the group.  
  
"Anyway, we're fine for now. An old mate of mine arranged a place for us to stay."  
  
"Okay. But don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."  
  
"We won't, I promise. I'll see you tomorrow then. I mean today. Around eight?" Dawn hugged her sister again. "Good night."  
  
"Well, she's certainly gotten a few influences from mr not-so-bleached- anymore." Xander laughed when Dawn's black jeans-clad backside made it out the door. 


	6. What's wrong?

Chapter 6  
  
Dawn felt something cold and damp hit her in her sleep. She moaned in protest as her eyes slowly opened. As she got used to the light, or rather the lack of it, she noticed that she indeed was lying on the cold damp floor.  
  
"Great," She mumbled to herself. "Why am I always the one to get knocked off the bed?" She reluctantly pulled herself up with some help from the bed. She glanced at Spike and was surprised when she found him being covered in sweat, twisting and turning on the bed. He was mumbling something in his sleep, Dawn couldn't hear what.  
  
That's weird, she thought. She'd never seen Spike like that. He looked like he was having a nightmare of the worse kind.  
  
"No! ...you can't... mine!" He was shouting now.  
  
Dawn decided it best to wake him up since she wouldn't get any sleep in the same bed as him as it was.  
  
She gently shook his shoulder.  
  
"Spike? Spiiiike!" His eyes suddenly flew wide open. He seemed to be staring right through her, and there was a terror in his eyes she'd never seen before.  
  
"Are you alright? Spike!" She tried to catch his attention. His eyes then seemed to recognize her.  
  
"Oh. 'm fine. Never been better. I had the strangest dream, 's all." His browns furrowed as if in thought.  
  
"What was it about?"  
  
"Nothing. Really, nothing important. At all. What are you doing on the floor? Now the bed's all cold." He pouted, changing the subject.  
  
"Well, I just thought I'd sleep on the floor. You know, give you more room." She said sarcastically glaring at him. Spike got her point.  
  
"Sorry, luv. Didn't mean to knock you up. Off." He quickly corrected himself.  
  
"It's okay. Besides, the clock's already... "She tried to find her cell. "... I know it's somewhere here. I do. Really, I don't lose things. Often."  
  
Spike watched her amusedly, ignorning the throbbing pain in his head.  
  
"Ha!" She held it up triumphantly. "Told you so! The clock's 1 pm. Okay, maybe a little early to get up after all... "  
  
Spike watched Dawn sleep, her head on his chest. She looked so content and happy.  
  
Spike wondered about what had just happened. First he'd had a dream about Dawn. Pregnant. With his child. Now that wasn't so weird, he often had strange dreams.  
  
But he didn't wake up afterwards with a cold sweat. He was sure he had a fever. He'd never had a fever before, at least not while being a vampire.  
  
He'd assured Dawn it was nothing, just a side effect of his dream. But it wasn't getting any better.  
  
Only worse. His head was aching terribly, his eyes he could barely keep open and his hands were shaking. Aside from the fever.  
  
Okay, he certainly wasn't feeling great. In fact... he shoved Dawn off of him in a rude manner, quickly stumbled up from the bed and into the bathroom. And threw up.  
  
'This is just getting better', he thought miserably while sitting down on the cement floor of the bathroom, staring at the wall opposite of the toilet.  
  
He heard some rude mumblings from the other room.  
  
"Again!? Twice in one night? We are so getting another bed. Or even better, we'll move in with Buffy. Why did I agree to live in a stinking basement anyway."  
  
She was just going to wake Spike up again to tell him her opinion, when she saw he wasn't there. After a quick check that he wasn't lying on the floor on the other side of the bed she got a bit worried. Then she saw the light coming from under the bathroom door.  
  
"Spike? You in there?"  
  
"Yeah." A raspy, harsh voice replied.  
  
Dawn opened the door to find him sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.  
  
"What happened?" Dawn crouched down beside him, taking in his ragged appearance.  
  
His deep blue eyes were empty and tired ,his cheeks seemed ever so hollow, he was even paler than he used to be and his dark hair was tousled.  
  
Spike looked up at Dawn. So beautiful, his princess.  
  
"Dunno. After I had that dream I've been feeling a bit sick..." Dawn looked at him disapprovingly.  
  
"Why'd you say you were okay? You don't have to act all tough and manly around me."  
  
"I know, I- I just didn't want you to worry and fuss is all."  
  
Dawn smiled. She'd never get used to Spike looking all embarrassed and guilty.  
  
"Okay. You have my forgiveness. Are you feeling any better now?"  
  
"A bit, I guess." He slid up against the wall, caughing a bit.  
  
"Can you come back to the bed?" She put her arm around him in a supportive manner.  
  
"I think so." He didn't like leaning on a lady for support, but he wasn't sure he wouldn't collapse otherwise.  
  
"You're shaking." She inspected him closely, trying to figure out what could be wrong with him. A flu? She'd never heard of a vampire having a flu before.  
  
"Mmm." Now he was closing his eyes, leaning almost completely on Dawn.  
  
"No wait, please don't fall asleep now!" He opened his eyes slightly.  
  
"I'll sleep on the floor, Dawn." He rasped. "Wouldn't want you to catch anything."  
  
"No way. You're the sick vampire who needs taking care of, therefore I'm the one one sleeping on the floor."  
  
"No." There it was, his manlyness kicking in again.  
  
"Yes. Spike, I'd rather get cold there and catch a human flu than some weirdo vamp one that looks bad enough to kill me."  
  
"A lady shouldn't..." He was leaning on her again, but trying to stay awake.  
  
And failing.  
  
Dawn half-carried, half-dragged her sleeping fiancée to the bed. She pulled the duvet off the bed, spreading it out on the floor.  
  
'It's not like he'll need it to keep warm anyway.' She told her nagging conscience.  
  
But what the hell was wrong with him? She'd ask him if vampires had flus when he woke up, if he was feeling better. She'd go to Buffy's tonight at eight anyway, tell her that Spike was having a flu or something and that he couldn't come patrolling.  
  
Things sorted, she quickly fell asleep.

AN: Please review, all you smart readers, it makes my day.


	7. I don't get it

Returning Home  
  
Chapter VII  
  
Dawn woke around six pm again, tiredly opening her blue eyes, squinting at first, then looking up at the ceiling. It was pretty water damaged. Dark brown, coffee-like stains all over the light brown surface.  
  
After lying there for a couple of minutes she rolled over and dragged her body up. She vaguely noticed that she was naked. Naked and very hungry. She frowned when she tried to remember her last meal but couldn't. One of the disadvantages when you were living with a vampire. Usually no food (except blood) around. But luckily she'd gotten a few things yesterday.  
  
So she made her way to the grocery bag in the corner, took out a pack of biscuits and a can of beer. She convinced her consciense that it would go bad if she didn't drink it.  
  
Spreading out the blanket that'd gotten rumpled and a little damp she sat down, opened the pack and the can, enjoying her breakfast.  
  
Then she remembered the reason she had for sleeping on the floor. Putting down the can she'd been holding she walked over to the bed to check on her lover.  
  
Still sweaty, but at least he wasn't having a nightmare, or so she thought by the lack of screaming and squirming.  
  
She bent over him, pushing a few loose strands of black hair from his forehead, smiling at how cute and innocent he looked while sleeping. Then while closing her eyes she bent down and gently pressed her lips against his.  
  
She got dressed in one of Spike's t-shirts and the same jeans she'd been wearing yesterday.  
  
Spike stirred, growling silently when he remembered the state he was in.  
  
Dawn heard him and came to sit down on the edge of the bed.  
  
"How you feeling?" She asked.  
  
"Not happy about you having to be concerned about me." He replied, still a bit groggy.  
  
"Hey, it's okay. Let it be that way around for once."  
  
His response was a smile.  
  
"Oh, I'm going over to Buffy's. Gonna check out her new apartment."  
  
"Alone?"  
  
"Yeah. I think she'd be happy if I came. I'll just tell her you weren't feeling so well. She'll understand."  
  
"I know, it's just, I feel so stupid about this."  
  
"Seriously, no problem. But I'll have to get going now. Bye."  
  
With a kiss she was gone, leaving Spike alone with his headache and fever.  
  
Buffy checked her appearance in the mirror. For some reason she was a bit nervous about meeting her sister alone. What would she think of her? It had been so long and their conversation yesterday wasn't really private.  
  
The relationship between them had changed. They were now acting more like friends than sisters. In a way it was good that Dawn had become an independent woman, not needing anyone to look after her anymore. But to Buffy she'd always be the little sister that she tried to be a mother to so many years ago.  
  
The knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.  
  
Dawn was greeted with a loving hug and directed into the kitchen where Buffy had made some tea. She poured herself and Dawn some. Dawn explained why Spike hadn't come. Buffy was a little surprised at the reason but soon it was forgotten and they were talking about other stuff.  
  
"I can't believe we haven't seen each other for so long. You know I thought about you all the time." Buffy encouraged Dawn.  
  
"Yeah, I know. I thought about you too."  
  
At the awakward silence followed she added:  
  
"You've got a nice place. Or your ex-boyfriend has. What kind of guy is he really?"  
  
"Hm, tough question. Well, he looks good. Nice features, dark, pretty tall and slim. Oh, and he's got glasses. He's hair is straight and always sticking up all over the place. Brown eyes."  
  
"And his personality?"  
  
"That's more complex. I didn't tell you the whole thruth yesterday. Didn't want to talk about it again with the rest of the gang."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"well, I would gladly have started a serious relationship if it wasn't for his drug addiction."  
  
"What!? Really? How did you find out?"  
  
"Once when I came home he was totally gone. Like, still cocnscious but not really there. Then I found the pot he'd been smoking. I helped him get to bed, and we never talked about it. But I often found his small supplies hidden all over the place, and I knew he was seriously hooked. I really know how to pick them, don't I?"  
  
"Glad you dumped him."  
  
"Me too."  
  
The conversation went o, first a bit slow but after a while they chatted away like they'd never done before. It was like getting to know each other again.  
  
The clock was 11pm when they finally decided to go on patrol.  
  
They encountered a flock of vampires and Buffy was surprised to see Dawn fight and dust four of seven.  
  
By one o'clock Dawn was back in the basement to find Spike passed out on the floor. She quickly ran to his side.  
  
When she turned him around she saw that apparently he'd been caughing blood.  
  
There went the normal flu alternative.  
  
If he'd been human she would've assumed he was dead due to his too pale skin and lack of heartbeat. And technically he was.  
  
But he wasn't human and Dawn figured he was still alive or undead as there was no dust pile there instead of him.  
  
He wouldn't move or wake up so she figured the best thing to do was to call the office.  
  
"Hello, Angel Investigations, How may we help you?" A tired voice answered.  
  
"Hi Wesley, it's Dawn."  
  
"Dawn? What's up?" She could hear that he was surprised to hear her voice at this time of the day. Or night.  
  
"It's Spike, he's sick. As in really really sick. Lying on the floor all sweaty and unconscious sick."  
  
"Oh. That's strange."  
  
"Is it? I was kinda hoping you'd tell me it's some normal vamp disease that's easily cured."  
  
"Well, there aren't really any 'normal vamp diseases' since the vampires natural healing is so fast that they rarely experience any symptoms before they're already cured."  
  
"What could it be then?" Dawn desperaty wanted to find out.  
  
"I can think of the possibility that he's been poisoned with some strong poison. What are his symptoms?"  
  
"Um, fever, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shaking...oh, and he's bleeding from the mouth."  
  
"I don't know much about poisons but it could be Cyanide or Carbon Monoxide or a really high intake of Acetaminophen. Of course there is the possibility of a spell."  
  
"What should we do?"  
  
"You'll stay there and inform me if anything changes. We'll research it here and I'll call you if we find anything."  
  
"Thanks. Bye." She hung up, sat down on the floor beside her boyfriend and felt terribly unuseful.  
  
She kicked him lightly a few times before giving up and just sitting there. Finally she fell asleep.  
  
Spike opened his eyes carefully. He could remember what happened yesterday. He'd gotten some terrible stomach cramps and started coughing blood.  
  
Strangely he now felt okay. He frowned. What had happened?  
  
Standing up he noticed Dawn sleeping beside him. She looked so beautiful.  
  
He started tracing kisses along her collar bone, up to her neck and finally on her mouth. She moaned when he brought up his hand to her nipple.  
  
"Spike!" Her eyes widened a bit when she realized what he was doing. 'On second thoughts, maybe that's not such a bad idea...' She thought when she felt his skilled hands explore her body.  
  
He woke up to a terrible slash of pain stabbing through his chest. He screamed at the top of his lungs. Dawn stirred beside him.  
  
"Spike? What is it?"  
  
He was convulsing and screaming in pain. Dawn tried to calm him down. He knocked off the bed. She backed up against the wall while watching her lover begin to calm down.  
  
When he looked normal again Dawn climbed up on the bed beside him.  
  
"Are you okay? What just happened?"  
  
He looked up at her with shocked eyes.  
  
"Dawn. My heart..it's beating."

AN: Hoped you liked it! Ch. 8 coming really soon if you just REVIEW!


	8. Oh, you're human now?

Chapter 8  
  
Spike looked at Dawn with large, confused eyes. She returned his gaze with disbelief.  
  
He reached for her hand and put it against his chest. Her eyes widened.  
  
"Wow. What could've...or I mean how did that happen? Does that mean you're...human, now?"  
  
Spike frowned.  
  
"I have no Idea. I mean I have a heartbeat, I need to breathe... what else is there?"  
  
"Hmm. Oh, I've got it!" Dawn went to retrieve something from her bag. She held it up to him, showing that it was a small make up mirror.  
  
He took it.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Nothing. I see nothing."  
  
"Oh. Then what?"  
  
"Wait! A silhouette. In the mirror. It's getting stronger...hey, I'm handsome!" He turned his head, admiring himself from different angles. "Though actually I never had any doubt about that." He smirked.  
  
Dawn just nodded, she was thinking.  
  
"Maybe you're turning right at this moment, and we're actually witnessing it. So, you have a reflection."  
  
"Looks like it." He suddenly thought of something. He went to the small window positioned high up on the wall, moved his hand into the small ray of sunlight seeping through it. At first it burned, a little too hot, but then it settled to a comfortable warming heat.  
  
Dawn was both excited and confused. If Spike was turning human, they would be able to take walks in the park like normal couples and they could have kids someday too. But part of her brain was a bit suspicious about this. So, this probably was the doings of some spell, but who'd done it and why on earth so? And weren't there always bad consequences to spells that big?  
  
Spike was, to say the truth, freaked out. He was becoming human? Then he would be able to give Dawn at least a pretty normal life, without the risk of being dusted in the middle of the day. But, he'd lose his strength and his fast healing and he wouldn't be able to protect Dawn as well. Not that she needed protection, but he'd feel stupid if he couldn't protect his lady. Plus, he'd get old, and eventually die.  
  
"Um, how are you feeling?" Dawn asked him.  
  
"Okay, I guess. Still a little hot, but it'sprobably from my body temperature rising."  
  
"Should I call Wesley and the others? You know, so they don't worry.?"  
  
He chuckled.  
  
"Bit, I think they'll worry a bit more if you tell them about this whole 'Spike's turning human' thing."  
  
"They'll just have to deal with it." She stood up, fetched her phone and dialed the number.  
  
"Dawn?" It was Willow's voice.  
  
"Yeah, hi. Er, about Spike..."  
  
"How is he? Not a big pile of dust, I hope?"  
  
"No! I mean, no, he's, he's fine. Pretty much recovered."  
  
"Really? That's a relief. Do you know what happened to him?"  
  
"I was kinda hoping you'd answer that for me. He's not er, fully recovered, you know, um, not like was before, he's kinda, um, changed, but in the better...oh fuck it. We think Spike's turning human."  
  
"Human? But how could he... I mean why?" Willow's trembling voice was trying to form decent questions.  
  
"Well, he's got the beating heart, the reflection and the ability to be in the sun."  
  
"Oh." Dawn could almost hear Willow's brain at work, trying to explain the situation.  
  
"You should probably come over, and we'll see if... I mean we'll check the...um, investigate the cause of this." She finally suggested.  
  
"They're not gonna poke me with bloody sticks are they?"  
  
Dawn ignored him.  
  
"We'll be right there. Bye!" She hung up.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"We're going there. And you're not gonna protest if they wanna poke on you. I mean, this is a strange case. Maybe they think you're gonna like, explode at any moment. You're not are you?"  
  
"Dunno." He shrugged."I promise to let you know if I feel an explosion coming on."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later they entered the office, Spike getting greeted with both curious and suspicious glances from the group.  
  
Willow, Wesley, Angel, Cordelia, Fred and Gunn were all there. Gunn came up to him, looked at him with narrow eyes as if trying to find something.  
  
"Looks the same to me." He shrugged and went back to his seat.  
  
Willow took him carefully by the arm, as if she was afraid of breaking him. He sighed and sat down in the seat she'd led him to.  
  
"So, you say you're human now? Well prove it." Gunn challenged.  
  
"If you haven't noticed, mate, I'm sitting in the sunshine here."  
  
"He's right." Fred stood up, bent down, taking his wrist in her hand. "And he's got a pulse."  
  
"So how did you do it?" Angel spoke up from his seat in the corner. "Howd'ya get human, Spike? Was it a spell? Some kind of black magic, right?" He stood up while he was talking. Drowning every word with sarcasm and hate.  
  
Spike sighed. Could he be more obvious? The poof was jealous. Of course he was, not being able to stand in the sun, have children and all the other human stuff.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking 'bout, mate." Spike said, trying to calm his sire down.  
  
"What black sorcerer did you hire this time?" Suddenly Angel's big hand was around Spike's throat.  
  
"Take it easy, I could actually choke, you know." Angel's grip just tightened.  
  
"You think you're so good it sickens me. You need to make up for what you've done before you deserve this, and you're nowhere near finished. I'm the one who's suffered and gone through hell for my redemption. I'm the one who's entitled to become human!"  
  
"Angel, back down. Let go of him." Gunn spoke up, a small hint of threat within his voice.  
  
Angel suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing, how stupid he was making himself look, and released Spike, who sighed of relief.  
  
"Sorry. I think I need a nap." He mumbled, moving into his private room.  
  
Willow shot a worrying glance in his direction and then looked at Spike.  
  
"So, we definitely need to find out what happened, I mean there could be a hidden price to pay, or a deeper meaning to this. I suggest we bury ourselves in the books." She said cheerily.  
  
"I can help." Dawn offered.  
  
"Er, I think someone should do the patrolling too."  
  
"Gunn, I think Buffy, Xander, Faith and Robin have got it covered." Willow said sarcastically.  
  
"Los Angeles is a pretty big town, you know..."  
  
"Ok, fine, go. The research'll go fine without you, too. And Giles should be here any moment now."  
  
Gunn sighed of relief and quickly disappeared out the door.  
  
"You mind if I go too? I think I need to collect my thoughts and all that rot."  
  
"Fine, Spike, you can go. Don't get into any trouble."  
  
He then stood up too and walked through the door.  
  
The LA night air was crisp and refreshing. Spike sucked his lungs full of it while pondering his situation.  
  
After about ten minutes he decided to hell with it and entered the nearest bar.  
  
It was pretty crowded for a Wednesday, but he easily found an unoccupied chair at the bar desk.  
  
He ordered a bottle of whisky to drown his thoughts in.  
  
When he'd drunk about half of it he remembered that he couldn't take anywhere near the same amount of alcohol that he used to.  
  
It'll be cheaper to get drunk, that's a plus.  
  
But it'll be much more expensive to buy all the food he was going to need.  
  
He'd have to get a job. Where could you find one when you'd been educated in the 19th century?  
  
He dropped his head down on the desk in frustration.  
  
"Sorrows?" A pleasant female voice asked.  
  
He turned his head, seeing a woman who was pretty slim, but not unhealthily. She had light brown hair, kind hazel eyes and a cute mouth. Pretty young, maybe twenty. Not at all what he'd expected. Usually it was some blonde bimbo trying to hit on him with her breasts.  
  
This girl reminded him of someone, though he couldn't quite place her.  
  
"Yeah." He turned took a large gulp of his bottle.  
  
She sat down beside him and ordered a vodka.  
  
"You?" He questioned.  
  
"What about me?" She did a shy smile/shrug kinda thing that he found cute.  
  
Now he saw who she reminded him of. That chick in that tv show. Mischa Barton. Yeah, that was it.  
  
"Have any sorrows to drown?" he nodded to her drink.  
  
"Yeah. Kinda." She seemed to be a shy kind of a girl.  
  
"So share." Spike was just drunk enough to be interested in hearing her story.  
  
She looked at him akwardly, like 'why do you wanna hear it'.  
  
"Well, I'm an artist. And today I walked past this huge gallery and saw my painting in the window. Signed by someone not me." She slurped at her vodka.  
  
"That's a bugger. What was it of?"  
  
"What it?"  
  
"The painting. What motive?"  
  
"Oh." She looked at him strangely again. "It was kind of an 18th century woman."  
  
"That right?"  
  
"Mmm hmm." She smiled at the weird but handsome man and took another swig of her drink.  
  
The light conversation went on, becoming more personal as they got more loaded. He found out her name was Adrie.  
  
After another bottle of whisky for Spike and seven more drinks for the woman they staggered out from the bar, laughing and trying to keep standing up by clinging to each other. They hadn't gotten far when they crumbled to the ground, laughing even louder.  
  
"Come on, stranger." She stood up, pulling him with her.  
  
"'m not strange." He pouted, but immediately burst into laughter again.  
  
They stumbled a few more blocks, not knowing who was leaning more on the other.  
  
"Well." Adrie sighed as she patted the cement wall of a building. "This is my place." Then she burst into laughter again.  
  
Spike couldn't help but laugh with her. Then he leaned against the wall for support. It turned out the wall was an open door, and he fell backwards, landing on his butt.  
  
That only made them both laugh even more.  
  
"Come on, let's get you in." She tried to push him indoors, but caught her foot and stumbled down on him.  
  
"Oh, if you wanted this luv, you could've just asked." She laughed before pressing her soft lips against his full.  
  
Spike shortly remembered there was something he should be thinking about but his alchohol fogged brain wouldn't cooperate. So he just kissed her back.  
  
Somehow they made their was up to the top floor, stumbling into her apartment. She lead him to the bed. They were already half-undressed.  
  
He trembled with his zipper, and with some help from her they succeeded in opening it.  
  
He lowered his head to hers, and they both moaned as their tongues battled once again.

AN: What happened? And please review review REVIEW!


	9. The morning after

Chapter 9  
  
The first thing Spike registered when he woke up was the head-splitting headache he had. The second thing was that he was lying in a big, comfortable bed in a light flat. Not the basement.  
  
As he looked to his side he saw an unfamiliar light brown head. His eyes went comically wide from realization and he nearly jumped out of bed.  
  
When he was standing on the warm, dry floor of this apartment he brought his hand up to the back of his head and tried to kickstart his brain.  
  
Ok. So unknown female object in same bed as him. Unknown apartment surrounding them. He looked around and saw that this apartment most likely belonged to some kind of artist; there were half-drawn paintings and half- empty tubes of colour everywhere.  
  
He saw that the clock was about five in the morning.  
  
The happenings of the day before slowly unwrapped in his mind. The only thing he couldn't remember was what happened after they stumbled into the apartment.  
  
Dawn! Oh, no. What had he done?  
  
If he ran, maybe he could convince her that he'd come to the cellar right after her and then went to bed.  
  
He dressed quickly, searched for a paper and a pen and scribbled down a note.  
  
_Adrie, I had to run, but do this for me: If you remember what exactly happened last night, please call me, it's important, I have to know!  
_  
He left his cell phone number, placed the paper on the pillow next to him and ran out.  
  
Los Angeles was just beginning to wake up. The people that were walking on the sidewalks cast the runner some curious glances.  
  
He made it to the basement in fifteen minutes. The vampire strength and speed would've been useful here.  
  
Though the sun could've disturbed his performance a little if he were still a vampire.  
  
He was surprised to see that the bed and the whole cellar was empty.  
  
"Dawn?" He called. No answer.  
  
Had she stayed reasearching? He didn't think so, but that would make him feel truly terrible. Him being with some other bird all the while she loyally was researching books to try and help him.  
  
Maybe she'd gone to Buffy's over the night?  
  
He didn't want to wake her if she was sleeping but he needed to know.  
  
He pulled out his cell and to his own surprise he saw that three calls had been missed. All from Dawn's number.  
  
'Oh, that's right, I forgot to turn the volume back up.'  
  
When he'd been a vampire he couldn't stand the high pitched ringtones so he'd turned the volume as low as it went.  
  
Of course he hadn't heard it now he was human, drunk and asleep.  
  
He brought the phone up to his ear to listen to the voice messages.  
  
"Spike, it's Dawn, I'm just calling to say that we might've found something. I don't really understand the details, Willow'll explain them to you, but it's something about a demon."  
  
Dawn's voice sounded chirpy and trouble-free so it couldn't have been anything unpleasant, like that he'd turn back in a few days. Or like she said, explode.  
  
"Spike, why aren't you answering? Anyway, I'm thinking of staying at Buffy's tonight, do a little sister bonding, you know. So you'll have the bed all by yourself. Call me when you get this message."  
  
"Ok, I'm a bit worried now. You know you haven't got the same strength and speed as before if you get in a demon fight. Or even in a normal bar fight. Oh God, you aren't dead are you? No, you're probably just too drunk to find your phone, aren't you? Anyway, I'm leaving the office now and going to Buffy's, call me back."  
  
'If she went straight to Buffy's after the research, I'll be able to convince her that I was very drunk and asleep, not able to answer the phone. I'll explain the volume thing too.'  
  
He shouldn't be doing this, lying to his fiancé, but if he got away with it, this would be a much better and happier solution for everyone than telling Dawn everything.  
  
It made him feel like the dirt on someone's shoe though.  
  
Down right miserable.  
  
He dialed Dawn's number.  
  
A sleepy voice answered after nine signals.  
  
"Um, hi?"  
  
"Dawn, it's Spike. Listen, I'm very sorry I didn't call you back yesterday, I was drunk and asleep and..." He explained the volume problem.  
  
"Yeah, it's okay, "She was whispering. "But I'm at Buffy's and it's still kind of early so..."  
  
"Okay, I get it, won't disturbe you more, tell me everything when you come home. By the way, when d'you think that'll be?"  
  
"Um, we'll see. When I've woken up, eaten breakfast and gotten ready."  
  
"Ok. Dawn, I love you, don't forget that. Bye!"  
  
"Love you too."  
  
They hang up.  
  
The clock was about twelve when Dawn came home.  
  
She suggested that they'd go to live with Buffy, at least for a while before they found a decent apartment of their own.  
  
She said that Buffy'd get suspicious if she volunteerly lived alone with Spike in a damp cellar when she could live in a big, cosy flat with her sister and Spike.  
  
Then she told him about the reseach yesterday. They had found a clue about an ancient demon who was believed to have enormous healing powers of some mystical kind. Big enough to wake a being from the dead, if they hadn't been decomposed or dead too long.  
  
The demon could share it's healing through a scratch or wound.  
  
Dawn had rembered the demon they'd encountered before coming to the office the other day, and the scratch it gave Spike.  
  
The picture in the book had definitely been the same demon, Dawn confirmed.  
  
Then she went out to buy some food, as there were two food consuming beings living there now.  
  
At about three o'clock Spike sneaked out to do some shopping too.  
  
Not the Ooh-what-wonderful-shoes-and-they-only-cost-a-few-fortunes-let's- buy-them-kind of shopping though, more of the I-feel-so-guilty-for-cheating- on-my-fiancée-that-I-have-to-do-something-romantic-for-her-kind of shopping.  
  
He bought loads of scented candles, the kind Dawn liked the most of course, some massage oil with the same scent and finally a small bracelet. It was made of round silver plates with different silver carvings and decorations on.  
  
He though it was perfect for her. It matched the ring.  
  
The engagement ring. They'd have to tell the others soon. He would talk to Dawn about it tonight. It was best if they made the announcement together.  
  
He made it home to hide the stuff just before Dawn came back.

* * *

As Dawn felt a sweet, fresh scent hit her, she realised she'd fallen asleep when she'd only ment to rest a little.  
  
Looking down, she saw that Spike'd covered her with a blanket.  
  
She smiled to herself. He's so sweet.  
  
Just then, Spike exited the bathroom. He made his way to her and took her hand in his. Their fingers entwined.  
  
He pulled her up and headed for the bathroom.  
  
"Spike, what is this...?"  
  
She'd barely finished her thought when she saw it.  
  
The whole bathroom glowed softly from the many rosy candles lit on the edges of the bath, which was full with water.  
  
Dawn drew in a sharp breath. It smelled so wonderful.  
  
In a matter of minutes they were both naked and carefully sat down in the hot tub, Dawn sitting between Spike's legs.  
  
He took the bottle of massage oil and poured some of it into his hand.  
  
He began to move his slender hands over her back, and she had to resist a moan.  
  
As they massaged and bathed each other they talked about the situation they were in.  
  
Both of them were glad Spike'd become human even if he probably wouldn't be able to be as engaged in the demon fighting business as before.  
  
They also talked about their relationship and how it would change. They were a normal human couple now. At least if you didn't pay attention to one of them being a mystical ancient key energy and the other being an ex-vampire.  
  
They decided to tell all the others about their relationship when the whole 'human' thing got cleared up.  
  
Dawn told her she'd phoned her old friend, Janice, and that she now lived here in LA and Dawn'd go and see her tomorrow.  
  
They also decided to accept Buffy's offer and go live with her at least for a while, though they'd probably have to sleep in different beds.

* * *

AN: I know this chapter was a bit slow but it kinda cleared up some stuff that'd been bothering me. Anyway, all you readers who're worried about the cheating deal: It's not as bad as it looks, I promise.

And all of you, please REVIEW!


	10. Out of the frying pan

(AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews, I read them all of course!Sorry it's taken a bit longer to get this chapter posted, there's been all kind of stuff going on.)

* * *

Chapter 10  
  
The next day at one o'clock, Dawn had already gone to meet Janice, and Spike was in the cellar apartment by himself.  
  
He was standing in front of the mirror, shaving (which was much easier now he had a reflection) when he heard his cell phone ringing.  
  
He took his duster and retrieved the cell from one of its pockets.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
The line was quiet for a few seconds.  
  
"'s there anyone there?"  
  
"Um, yes. It's eh, Adrie. You know, from the other night." She sounded a little insecure and embarassed.  
  
"Adrie. Hello. So, about the eh, incident...?"  
  
"Yeah." To Spike's surprise, she let out a short laugh. "Well, I don't remember all of it. But I do remember you passing out on top of me before we, eh, actually did it. Then I guess I fell asleep or something because I only remember waking up in the morning having a terrible headache and finding you gone."  
  
"Oh. So, we didn't eh, go all the way then?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Ok, that's good." Spike sighed of relief. "Can we please agree to never talk about it again?"  
  
"Um, okay, if you say so."  
  
"Thanks Adrie. I mean really. This was a huge relief."  
  
"Oh. Do you have a girlfriend or something? Oh, sorry, it's none of my business is it."  
  
"Well, if you wanna know, yes, I do have girlfriend. A fiancée, in fact." Spike would've never told this to someone who might use it for some kind of blackmailing, but Adrie seemed just as embarassed about this situation as he was, and she wasn't exactly the silicone breasted blonde pushy kind.  
  
"Oh. Glad we didn't do it then." Again with this short bark-like laugh.  
  
"Yeah, well I guess we should hang up."  
  
"And never talk about it again, right. Okay, bye."  
  
They hang up.  
  
Spike went back to shaving, feeling much more relieved. Later, he'd take Dawn out to a fancy restaurant.  
  
He, or actually Dawn, had told the scoobies he'd stop by at the office to clear things up about the human deal, so when he was finished shaving he stepped out in the daylight.  
  
As the sun rays hit him, he realised how lucky he was. He had a girlfriend that he loved and would soon marry, he'd gotten turned human so now he could live a happy, normal life with her.  
  
He'd almost screwed it all up, though. But, if everything went as planned he would never have to worry about that small encounter again.  
  
He was almost whistling when he entered the small office.  
  
The wicca was there, as was Wesley, that black guy Gunn, Fred and Buffy. They all looked up from their books as he walked in.  
  
"Spike!" Willow smiled. "Sit down." She gestured to the seat between her and Buffy.  
  
The blonde woman looked suspiciously at him, as if she was inspecting him.  
  
"So, it's true that you're human now? Dawn told me about it." Buffy explained.  
  
"Yeah. Pretty much. Now I'm a regular guy, probably can't even take on you."  
  
"Like you could before." Buffy smiled to show she was only joking.  
  
"Okay, Spike, did Dawn tell you about what we found out?" Willow asked.  
  
"She said something 'bout a demon and healing power or something." He shrugged.  
  
"Good, well here's the deal. This demon, it has, or had, incredibly powerful healing powers. It scratched you and you got 'infected' by them. Now, this could have several kinds of effects. For example, if you'd been human before we can't be sure what would've happened. The healing probably would've taken care of any disease you might've had. But, when you were vampire, it healed you all the way up from being undead. The fever and nausea and all that were sice effects from your body learning to handle all the new stuff."  
  
"Right, good thing we got that sorted then. You think I'm gonna have any more of those side effects?"  
  
"I don't think so. I mean why would you now that the progress is already finished?" Spike nodded and then he came to think of something.  
  
"What about the poof, then? You gonna try and do this on him?"  
  
Willow looked quickly at Buffy, who was gazing to the room where Angel probably slept right now.  
  
"Well, we have considered that. And... well, we haven't decided yet. There would be several risks involved." Wesley informed him.  
  
"As?"  
  
"For example we aren't even sure it'll work, since Angel has been um, undead for a considerably longer time than you. And the side effects he'd be getting would most likely be more severe than those you got, they would last for a longer time as well. Still adding to that, this demon is very rare and it will be hard to find one."  
  
"Oh." There was a silence in the room until Buffy spoke up, a little too cheery.  
  
"So, Spike, could you come outside for a while? I wanna speak to you." She stood up and began walking to the door.  
  
Spike shrugged and went after her, leaving the others to research whatever they were researching when he came in.  
  
She was leaning against the wall of the building, not looking at him when he came out.  
  
"You know, it's so weird. All of this. At first when you left I, it was so hard. I mean, both Dawn and you are very important people to me. I, I love you both." She looked at him now.  
  
Spike decided he'd just let her take her time to get to the point and remained silent.  
  
Looking away again, she continued.  
  
"I tried to put up a façade of being all right and dealing with you leaving, but it just got worse. I just, couldn't, I...I got depressed."  
  
Spike raised his head in surprise, but she avoided him, looking at the ground.  
  
"Buffy, I didn't know you..." She nodded.  
  
"I know you didn't, and I didn't want to tell you either, since I knew you'd feel guilty." He opened his mouth to say something. "No, don't, just let me finish. I went to see a therapist, which helped a bit, but I felt... abnormal and I know I am, it's just that I made a decision to leave all this, demons and slaying behind me, you know, start a new life. But that would've also ment leaving the rest of all the people I know, all the people I care about. Then there woul've been nobody left. "She got a sad far away look on her face.  
  
"When you'd been gone for, it was about three years I guess, I got a bit better, but I realized you might never come back. I wondered if you ever would. If you even... existed anymore." Now she looked at him, and he could see that her eyes were teary.  
  
"When five years'd gone I, I didn't want to admit it but, I didn't think I was ever going to see you again and I tried so hard, I really did, not to think about you and Dawn and mum. But when you came back, all these old feelings came back to me and I just don't know what to do about them. When Dawn came to my place it was almost like we never knew each other. And I don't, I don't really know her, or you, anymore." She started sobbing.  
  
Spike was stunned, to say at least. She had felt this bad? He stepped forward and put his arms around her.  
  
She hugged him hard and she started to cry and shake uncontrollably. He whispered soothing words to her.  
  
When her tears had ended and she was just sobbing again, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.  
  
"Buffy, listen. It's gonna be okay. We're here now, both of us, and I, I never would've left if I knew what was going to happen. I'm sorry." She semmed to listen and her sobs reduced.  
  
"Oh god, I'm so stupid, I just, I don't know what this is anymore. It's like one minute you're gone and out of my life and the next you're here, and then you're human, and... what are we, Spike? I know I love you and now you're human which makes stuff a lot easierto deal with and I don't know what I should do. Maybe we should try to, to have a real relationship."  
  
Oh. He hadn't expected this.

* * *

(AN: Now pleease review!!! You can make my day by just pressing the small button so go ahead! Oh, and you can give me suggestions and tell me what you think should happen!)


	11. Surprises

AN: I'm sorry this took a while. I just had a really severe case of writer's block, I guess...

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Buffy was looking straight at him. He couldn't back out now, he had to tell her. Dawn wasn't gonna like it though. He cleared his throat.

"Buffy, I... I like you very much." He couldn't say love, not right now. "And that's why I have to tell you this. I can't be with you, because I'm already with someone else."

Buffy looked down at her hands.

"I'm with Dawn." Her head snapped up.

"Dawn? Dawn!?" Her voice wasn't so much sad for being rejected as wary for her little sister.

"Yeah." Spike was happy she didn't seem ready to stake—kill him, at least not right now.

Buffy braced herself against the cement wall, frowning.

"But how...how long has this been going on?"

"A couple of years."

"Oh. So you're...serious." It was a statement, not a question.

"Pretty much, I'd say. We're um, engaged." He was hoping it wasn't too much for Buffy.

"Engaged? Why haven't you told me about this earlier?" She was clearly hurt about it.

"We were kinda waiting for the right moment, y'know. I, I just felt I had to tell you now."

"I guess I should thank you for doing it but... you know, Dawn's my sister and I know she can handle herself and all, but it still feels...weird." She slid down the wall sitting down.

As Spike sat down beside her, he saw that she was about to cry again.

"You know, you'd expect that your own _sister_ would tell you about something like this. And if not her then the former vampire that I've known for years and... loved."Her voice faded at the end.

Buffy cleared her throat.

"It's like I don't know her anymore. Like, I do, I mean she's Dawn, my little mystical key energy sister and we've been through so much together but now that's ancient history. I'll have to try to get to know her again, but it seems almost like she doesn't want me in her life anymore." She looked down at her hands, seemed embarrassed.

"Buffy. Dawn is your sister. She loves you. I'm sure she feels a bit awkward too, but that'll change soon, don't worry bout it."

She looked up at him with teary eyes. Spike felt a sting of regret for just abandoning her here when he and Dawn left.

"Promise?" Her voice was just a whisper.

"Pet, I promise." He smiled at her. It was a genuine, reassuring smile.

Buffy wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled back.

"I'm sorry I um, bothered you with this, I didn't mean to..." She laughed bitterly. "I really made a fool of myself with the whole 'please be my boyfriend' thing, didn't I?" She stood up, not really wanting to hear his answer.

Spike followed her example and then turned her around, grabbing her shoulders and fixating her with his eyes.

"Buffy, I want to know you, as a friend, and I want you to feel comfortable telling me stuff. "She nodded, then leaned forward, hugging him.

"So, you wanna walk with me for a while? I could update you on what's been going on demonwise lately. And I do want to hear about you and Dawn. How did it start?"

They headed out from the alley they were in and started walking, chatting comfortably.

* * *

"You told Buffy? What did I say to you about that!? Now she's gonna think I wanted to hide it from her! And everything'll be all awkward between her and me again! We were just starting to go back to normal. Now things'll never get cleared out! Spike don't you understand? And don't you dare smirk at me mister!" She pointed her index finger to his chest. 

Spike, who had been trying to get a word into her ramble, just grinned and explained.

"I had to tell her. If I hadn't, it'd been worse, trust me. And Dawn" His grin transformed into a loving smile. "you don't have to worry about your relationship with her. She took it surprisingly well, actually." He frowned, a bit confused about it himself. "And I'm sure that if she still wants to get back on track with you, you'll be fine."

Dawn's face had changed during his explanation, and she now seemed to be in a much better mood.

"So she took it well? Surprisingly well? And she still wants to speak to me? That's good. A huge relief. Now we've just got to figure out how to tell the others."

"Tell the others?"

"Well, if we want to get married before we're all wrinkly and have to be rolled down the isle in wheelchairs."

"You have got a point there dear." He smiled and kissed her. "We'll tell them."

* * *

"Wesley, can I ask your opinion about something?" 

"I dont't see why not."

Buffy leaned against the counter Wesley was standing behind.

"Do you think that Spike and Dawn have changed? You know, since they left?"

"Of course. I think they've both changed a lot. In a good way."

Buffy frowned.

"Yes, I know that, but do you think they've changed the way they are with each other?"

"Well, I guess that's changed too. I mean, when you've been you've been so close to each other for such a long time something's bound to..." Suddenly Wesley seemed to realise what she'd meant. "You mean... Are they involved with each other?"

"Remember that I haven't told you this. Yes, that's what I meant. They are...involved. Engaged."

"Oh. Well actually I wonder why I hadn't though about that myself. I should've figured it out. I mean, they've spent so much time together, and Dawn isn't the teen she used to be anymore."

"That's it? No big shock? No I'm gonna kill Spike?"

"Even if Spike was a vampire when they started out, he's not anymore, and I'm pretty sure that Dawn can handle herself. She seemed very grown up."

"I know. And as long as Dawn's happy, I'm happy. When you think about it, I'm not so shocked either. Just about not being shocked." She smiled.

"Shocked bout what? Hi guys!" The dark-haired man walked up to the counter.

"Xander!" Buffy hugged her friend. "You're here!"

"Guess I am. I'm sorry I haven't been for a while. There's just been so much goin' on, y'know."

"I totally understand, don't worry."

"So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Uh, just..stuff." Great Buffy, why don't you lie a little bit worse.

"Stuff?"

"You know, demony stuff."'

"Well, why don't you let me in on it?"

* * *

The next week was filled with demons, mainly a new group of them coming to LA. Luckily, the gang was able to convince them that LA was not a good town for demon activities, and so the weren't a problem anymore. No beatings involved whatsoever. 

Buffy and Wesley had decided to let the two lovers keep their secret until they wanted it revealed.

So, when the weekend came, they all decided to take it off and just relax at home.

On Monday morning it was Willow's turn to stand behind the desk and try to assist any clients.

It had been a pretty quiet morning though, until 10 am.

Willow's head snapped up as Giles stormed into the store. He leaned on his knees and panted.

"Giles? What's the matter?" When she looked closer, she could see that he was holding a white envelope. She walked to the old man.

"It's not one of those law firms accusing us of 'unappropriate activities' again is it?"

Giles seemed to catch his breath and chuckled humorlessly.

"If only it was. Here, take a look at this." He handed her the envelope.

'Rupert Giles' was written on it. She looked at him questioningly and he gestured for her to open it.

It was a white paper, folded in half. When she read it, she couldn't believe her eyes.

'You are hereby invited to the wedding of William 'Spike' the Bloody and Dawn Summers.'

* * *

AN: Review review review. To know that you have readers always motivates.Oh, and I'd also like it if you'd tell me about any ideas that you've got. And what should happen with Adrie? If anything should happen at all... 


End file.
